Senate Prepping Bill To Give FDA Control Of Compounding Pharmacies

11/16/2012 4:20 PM ET

Senators from both sides of the aisle have pledged their support for new legislation to give the FDA more control over compounding pharmacies. The agency claims that they needed increased power of such pharmacies, especially in light of a fungal meningitis outbreak that has already killed at least 32 people.

The legislation would turn control of these pharmacies over to the FDA from state health boards, allowing the federal agency to control both manufacturing and distribution of widely needed drugs.

"We don't need to disturb the local drugstores and we don't need to do more about the big manufacturers. We need to make sure that when a hospital in Tennessee buys a steroid that it buys it from a manufacturer that is regulated by the FDA, or it buys it from a pharmacy that is properly regulated."